2017 Great American Physician Survey Results

In the 8th rendition of the Physicians Practice survey, 826 physicians were polled and revealed their attitudes towards their personal and professional lives. Overall, physicians say government regulations and third-party interference continues to be the largest barrier to good healthcare for patients. More than 40% of respondents said this was the case, up from 37.4% in last year's survey.

Fewer physicians are saying they would go back and do everything in their career the first time. This year, 45.50% of respondents said this was the case, while last year it was 49.1%. More physicians are saying they would choose a career outside of healthcare (17.34 % in 2017, 10.6 % in 2016).

For the survey, Physicians Practice polled a wide array of physicians across multiple specialties, representing every area of the U.S., and every practice size. On a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being strongly agree and 1 being strongly disagree, most physicians like being a physician (4.26), are happy with their choice of specialty (4.11), but a smaller amount would recommend the physician career path to a young person (2.78).

Here are a few other highlights of the 8th annual Physicians Practice Great American Physician Survey:

• 63.53% of physicians say they would be willing to go part-time and 57.09% say they wish they worked fewer hours. Check out this article on PhysiciansPractice.com about becoming a part-time physician.

• As of today, I'd give the Trump Administration the following grade regarding healthcare: 40.4% said F; 20.53% said D; 18.4% said B; 11.6% said D; and 9.07% said A.

• In terms of the health policy issues that physicians care about: 73.11% say they want protections for patients with pre-existing conditions; 65.83% want regulations for the cost of medications; and 50.99% want increased competition among health insurers.

For more results to the Great American Physician Survey, stay tuned for our full report — coming later this month.